Don’t look now, but if you’re furious that an iPad is a computer (What’s a computer?) you might not like the new iPad ads that Apple released.
Commercials
Watch 5 New Apple Commercials for iPhone Photography: Burst Mode, Pano, Slo-Mo, Soccer, Backlight
Apple has five new commercials promoting iPhone photography techniques and features.
Samsung Thinks Galaxy S9 Is at Least Better than iPhone 6
Check it out. Samsung is positioning its two-month old flagship Galaxy S9 against an iPhone. And when I say “iPhone,” I mean iPhone 6 [via MacRumors]. The ad appears to be a pitch to owners of old iPhones, but it feels more like a Freudian slip to me. “This,” Samsung appears to believe, “is all we can do.” Even if the psychology behind the ad isn’t as twisted and warped as my Samsung-loathing mind wants it to be, comparing a brand new flagship device to a three-and-a-half year old competitor is terrible, awful, absurd positioning. Perhaps that’s part of why iPhone 7 is still selling as well as the Galaxy S9, let alone the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and X, all of which handily outsell the Samsung device. Anyhoo, you can watch it and judge for yourself.
Apple Says Switch to iPhone with 2 New Commercials: App Store and Portraits
They’re both part of Apple’s Switch to iPhone series, offering short metaphorical illustrations for why you should ditch other platforms for iPhone.
Apple's iPhone 8 (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition Commercial, Music by Sofi Tukker
Apple has a spot out to promote the new iPhone 8 (PRODUCT)RED Special Edition. It’s very…red, with a soundtrack by Sofi Tukker, “That’s It (I’m Crazy).” This isn’t the kind of commercial likely to get a lot of TV airtime, but it’s racking up views on YouTube (224,000 and counting, after just a few hours).
Apple's Spike Jonze and FKA Twigs 'Welcome Home' Commercial Mostly Practical Effects
Adweek has a great behind-the-scenes video that shows—among other things—that all that stretchy-house stuff from Apple’s new HomePod ad was done with practical effects, rather than CGI.
iPhone X 'Fly Market' Commercial: Song, Dance, Face ID, and Apple Pay
Apple has a new spot out, and I love it. It’s called Fly Market, and it features a young man dancing through a street market using Apple Pay and Face ID on his iPhone X to buy clothes and a present for his mom. The song is “Back Pocket” by Vulfpeck, a great tune. This commercial has charisma, and I love the imagery—I think it’s great. I’d love to hear what you think.
Watch 7 New Apple Films Made with iMac Pro
Apple enlisted prominent CG artists to each make their own film using iMac Pro, including Buck, Erin Sarofsky, Esteban Diácono, ManvsMachine studio, Michelle Dougherty, Luigi Honorat, Esteban Diácono, and Michelle Dougherty.
Apple Has 4 New iPhone Commercials: Environment, Apple Support, Ease, Safe
Short, just 15 seconds long, each spot personifies an iPhone selling point, and pits iPhone against “your phone” in a split screen representation.
Apple Has Four New HomePod Commercials: Equalizer, Distortion, Bass, and Beat
They’re all abstract pieces that say little specific about Apple’s smart speaker.
TiVo GameSkip Lets You Skip the Super Bowl to Right to the Commercials and Halftime Show
With GameSkip, TiVo users can skip the game and get right to the important bits—Super Bowl commercials and the Halftime Show.
Apple Found a Hipster Willing to Cut His Beard to Demonstrate Face ID
Apple made a new commercial by shaving off a hipster model’s beard a little bit at a time and assembling it stop-motion style into a video to demonstrate Face ID.
Watch Apple's New Commercial, 'iPad Pro - Markup'
Apple has a new spot called iPad Pro – Markup. It shows the same young woman featured in the What’s a Computer? spot. In this commercial, she’s sitting around with her iPad Pro talking to a friend with FaceTime. She snags a screenshot, marks up the screenshot, and then sends it to the friend in iMessage while continuing the conversation. It’s all fluid, natural, and easy. It ends with the tagline, “A new way to markup instantly.” On the one hand, I’m not sure how many kids can afford an iPad Pro. On the other, I think this delivery speaks perfectly to young people, and that’s entirely the target market.
Apple Has 4 New Commercials for Apple Watch S3 as the 'Gift of Go'
Two of them feature the cellular abilities of Apple Watch Series GPS + Cellular, while one demonstrates workouts. The fourth shows Apple Watch’s ability to go in a pool.
Apple Taps Sam Smith in 'Sway' Holiday Commercial for AirPods
Apple has a new holiday commercial out called Sway. The spot channels the feeling of Christmas without overtly mentioning that specific holiday, with a sound track by Sam Smith (“Palace”). It’s a subtle promotion of AirPods featuring two young dancers who meet and metaphorically fall in love. She gives him one of her AirPods, and they then dance and sway through the snow sharing the same song. The tag line is “move someone this holiday.” What do you think?
Apple Spotlights Portrait Lighting on iPhone 8 Plus with 'Portraits of Her' [Video]
Apple has a new spot called Portraits of Her to promote Portrait Lighting on iPhone 8 Plus. Portrait Lighting is a new software effect on iPhone 8 Plus that allows you to drastically change lighting on photos shot using Portrait Mode. In Portraits for Her, Apple uses a haunting (and beautiful) song called “This Strange Effect” by The Shacks for a soundtrack. The company also had the unnamed actress in the piece lip-syncing the lyrics as she walked through the city, something I don’t recall in another Apple spot. I like this commercial. The music, the camera shots, and the pacing are all lovely, and it’s another good example of Apple showing us a concept (Portrait Lighting) without doing an explainy spot. I’d love to know your thoughts.
Check out the Amazing Colors in Apple's 'iPhone X' Commercial
Apple released a bunch of solid commercials Tuesday, but iPhone X is my favorite. It uses some gorgeous colors splashing around as a lure for the devices OLED screen. The colors grabbed my attention during the keynote when it was first shown. They reminded me a lot of the 70s’ kid’s toy, the Magic Window, but with a lot more colors. It’s compelling, bold, striking, and sexy. Interestingly, text at the end of the spot indicates that it hasn’t been approved by the FCC, and specifies that it can’t be sold until it is.
The Rock Talks about Siri in the Kitchen, Selfies, and Reminders in 3 New Apple Videos
Each is a short-form version from the original short film released late in July, and they feature The Rock and Siri in the kitchen, taking selfies, and setting Reminders.
Apple Brilliantly Personifies iPhone Security
There are three new “Why Switch” videos on YouTube. Contacts is clever and does a pretty good job of conveying that it’s easy to move your contacts to iPhone from “your phone.” Smooth makes a good case that video is smoother on iPhone. But Security, now that one is brilliant. It personifies iPhone’s inherent security advantage over (the unnamed) Android in a funny, concise, and elegant way. It’s easy to understand, and I think it’s entertaining. You can watch it below.
Apple's New Switcher Campaign — for iPhone
Apple launched a new advertising campaign called Switch to iPhone at apple.com/switch. The campaign trades the white of the company’s original I’m a PC campaign for dark pastels and simple, compelling imagery. The message is that it’s simple to switch to iPhone, which is faster, that your music will sound better, and that moving your photos is easy. Watch the four videos that make that argument in our full story.
Apple Celebrates the Joys of Water Balloons in New Commercial
Apple launched three commercials in the company’s Shot on iPhone series. All three spots were released for the Turkish market on the Apple Turkey YouTube channel. They were shot by 11 year old children on iPhones, and were released to celebrate National Sovereignty and Children’s Day in Turkey.
New Apple iPad Pro Spot Shows the Power of Apple Pencil to Sign Documents
Apple has a new entrant in its iPad Pro commercials where the company responds to tweets from real people. The new one is called No more printing, and shows how you can use iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to sign documents. It’s anchored around a tweet from @ROSESplease about printing personal documents on the company printer. I thought these spots were interesting when they launched, and found it interesting that Apple was interacting indirectly with social media and tweets from real folks. As time goes on, however, I find that I don’t think about these adds at all. That certainly wasn’t true with many other Apple campaigns. Then again, I’m not the target demo for these spots. This is the fifth spot in the series, making it likely they’re performing well for Apple.
Apple Takes Us on iPhone 7 'One Night' Tours of NYC, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Tokyo
Apple launched five new commercials through its YouTube channel Tuesday. Four of them are part of the “Shot on iPhone” series and take us on “One Night” tours of New York City, Johannesburg, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Each commercial is comprised of stills and videos from their respective cities, theoretically taken over one night.
Apple Answers Tweets in 4 New iPad Pro Ads
Apple launched four new iPad commercials that respond to real tweets from real folks. The first (included below) is in response to a tweet about iPad not being a real computer. The second spot addresses a tweet about poor Wi-Fi. The third answers whether Microsoft Word is on the iPad (it is), and the fourth notes that iPads aren’t subject to PC viruses. The Twitter accounts are real (Tweet 1 account, Tweet 2, Tweet 3 account, Tweet 4), and The Verge reported that Apple contacted at least one of the tweeters before using their tweets. There’s almost zero chance Apple didn’t do so with all of them. But, Apple used actors to represent the Twitter account owners. It’s an interesting campaign. Some have already noted it’s reminiscent of Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign. More interesting, though, is that this is the first time I can remember Apple addressing questions like these, especially in an ad. The company is also leveraging social media, an area that hasn’t typically been a strong suit for Apple. They’re not my favorite spots from Apple, but they’re solid. It will be interesting to see if this becomes a major campaign.